Stumbling Blocks Begin

I have posted about punctuation issues before, but it continues to be a theme. My mom gave the book to two of her trusted literary friends, both of whom have been published. They loved the book. Sigh of relief inserted here. However, they disagreed on something to the point the two "editors" actually conferred and called my mom with their decision.

I find this amusing . . . (yes, I'm going to start doing damned ellipses correctly!) at some point, I told my mother after she told me the above story, WE have to decide what WE think is right, be consistent and naysayers be damned. I guarantee we could find two well received, well critiqued books that would conflict on "the rules" of grammar/style.

For those wondering, the women were discussing whether words such as honey and sweetheart should be capitalized when used in place of someone's name (it is a Southerner's story after all). We capitalized them, the two "editors" disagreed. If I see "honey please get me some tea" I'm assuming the little bear with the sweet sugary substance is running off to get me something. Just my opinion, though!

At the end of the day, I've come to the same conclusion as in my earlier post . . . Mom and I have to be consistent and agree. It's hard enough having two authors agree on anything, much less several editors and what will hopefully amount to thousands (go with me here) of readers.